According to the National Institutes of Health, fifteen percent of couples are unable to get pregnant after twelve months of regular unprotected sexual intercourse. There are many potential reasons for reduced fecundity; one third of the cases involve male infertility, another third female infertility, with the balance involving both. Conventional therapies for fertility problems typically include medication or surgery. Both of these categories of therapies can pose health risks. Fertility medications may have undesirable side-effects and can be expensive. Surgical treatments may be seen as too invasive and risky; other treatments, such as assistive reproductive technology, may also present a level of invasiveness and expense that puts it out of reach of many couples searching for fertility assistance.
Others have proposed various intravaginal devices to provide less invasive and expensive fertility treatments. These devices include artificial insemination, cervical cap, and intravaginal plug devices. Artificial insemination devices require collection and subsequent introduction of semen to the vaginal canal and cervix by mechanical methods, such as the use of a catheter with a plunger or syringe. See, e.g., U.S. Patent Application No. 2011/0087065; 2015/0196324. Existing cervical cap devices for improving fertility also require collection of semen prior to insertion of the cup, which stays in place at the cervix for up to six hours. But collection and handling of semen can be complicated and difficult, and must be carried out in a manner that will not damage the semen. Intravaginal plugs, such as that proposed in U.S. Publication No. 2005/0028824, while less complicated and easier to use than artificial insemination and cervical cap devices, are designed to keep the ejaculate from exiting the vaginal canal; however, these devices are not specifically designed to place the ejaculate in contact with the cervix and uterus, and any such contact is incidental to their use.
What is needed is a method and apparatus for improving the potential for pregnancy without the invasive and complex procedures currently proposed or available.